After almost three years in early access, Enshrouded hit version 1.0 on 15 October 2026 on PC and PS5, and I played it on Sony’s console. Keen Games’ survival game arrives with its full map, the end of its story and a level cap raised to 50. I’ll say it straight away: it’s one of the best survival and building games you can pick up right now. Its world makes you want to search every corner, its building tools give you a rare amount of freedom, and each of its systems feeds the others. It still has a few rough edges, mostly when you’re placing blocks and in the early fights, and they weigh very little against everything else.
At a glance
Enshrouded 1.0 finally opens up the whole map, wraps up the story and raises the level cap to 50.
Exploring, building, cooking and fighting all feed into one another, and that’s what puts it at the top of today’s survival games.
Fiddly block placement, stiff early combat and a poorly explained Sparkworks system are the only real snags.
Enshrouded leaves almost three years of early access behind
Enshrouded had been playable in early access on PC since January 2024. Version 1.0 opens up the rest of the map, including a new region in the north where lava flows beneath floating islands. It also brings the kingdom’s story to a close and lifts the character level cap to 50, with gear now upgradable to level 55. It’s all laid out in the full changelog Keen Games posted on Steam the day before launch.
Two new Hollow Halls, the game’s big dungeons, have opened their doors as well, one in the Albaneve Summits and one in Veilwater Basin, where Keen Games cheerfully suggests bringing a snorkel. The outer edges of Springlands, Blackmire and Kindlewastes have grown too, with fresh Shroud roots for anyone chasing extra skill points. And before you set foot in the new region, another Flame level is waiting to be unlocked, which raises the number of Flame Altars you can place to 15.
If you had a world on the go, you can keep it. Keen Games converts old saves, though the studio openly encourages you to start over, since the opening hours have changed a lot. There’s one disappointment for friends who play on different machines: the studio has confirmed there’s no cross-platform play at launch.
I played on PS5 and didn’t hit a single technical problem during my sessions. Enshrouded felt stable from start to finish, which matters a great deal in a game where you spend hours building. Keen Games still pushed out a first hotfix on launch day, fixing random crashes and an indoor lighting issue.
Every ruin you search pushes your progress forward
What struck me first is how much Enshrouded stands out from other survival games thanks to its world. It’s packed with places to visit, resources to gather, dungeons, enemies and side quests, and I had a huge amount of fun exploring it.
Crucially, everything you find along the way moves your character forward. You bring back materials, crafting blueprints and sometimes a new craftsperson, such as the blacksmith or the farmer, who moves into your base. Each one unlocks recipes, gear and new ways of crafting. I loved recruiting them, because every rescue changes what you can build when you get home.
The kingdom’s history unfolds the same way. Journals, the stories of former inhabitants and the remains they left behind slowly piece together what happened to this land swallowed by the Shroud. The main story is fairly thin, and its quests mostly exist to nudge you towards new areas. To be honest, that barely bothered me, as the environments already say plenty.
And what environments they are. Enshrouded’s bright landscapes and sweeping vistas are gorgeous, while the areas consumed by the Shroud get genuinely unsettling, especially at night and deep in caves.
When it comes to getting around, fast travel points spare you the tedious treks, and the glider quickly becomes essential for reaching high ground. You leap off a tower, sail over a valley and land right where you meant to start digging around.
Building in Enshrouded lets you dream up almost anything
This is where Enshrouded impressed me most. The building tools give you enormous freedom: you can put up really elaborate structures, mix materials and reshape the terrain itself to bring your ideas to life. You can dig into the ground to carve out underground rooms, and I really enjoyed being able to take over an existing ruin and turn it into a base, so you never have to start from scratch.
That said, the building mode in Enshrouded has one flaw that annoyed me more than once. The preview of the piece you’re placing sometimes hides the connection points, so putting a block exactly where you want it becomes a chore and breaks your rhythm. You can fly around freely while you build, which is really handy, though it doesn’t fully solve those visibility problems.
Version 1.0 also brings Sparkworks, a logic system that lets you wire mechanisms into your builds, from traps to lifts. On paper it’s hugely promising, and you can already picture the homemade dungeons people will put together. For now, though, Sparkworks is badly explained and expects knowledge the game barely teaches you.
Cooking decides how well each trip into the Shroud goes
I liked how running your base ties into survival in Enshrouded. Between expeditions, you expand your facilities, grow your own resources, cook meals and make your home more comfortable before heading back out.
Cooking in Enshrouded is genuinely useful. Meals give you bonuses to health, stamina, regeneration or melee damage, and you feel the difference quickly. Head out on an empty stomach just once and you’ll see what I mean.
Those meals really come into their own in the Shroud. These areas are full of dangerous enemies and rare resources, and you can only stay inside for a limited time. That ticking clock adds real tension to exploring, and it makes you want to prepare every trip carefully.
Stiff fights at first, and boss battles worth the trip
Combat in Enshrouded is the weakest part early on. I found the animations a bit rigid at times and switching targets clunky. Parrying, dodging and blocking still give you interesting options, and the whole thing grows on you as you progress.
The skill tree is what makes it all take off. It lets you shape your style around melee, heavy weapons, ranged attacks and magic, and every new ability makes the fights more dynamic.
The boss fights in Enshrouded are a real highlight, too. Each one makes you read your opponent’s attacks, keep an eye on your stamina and pull out the right ability at the right moment. If that kind of duel is your thing, our review of Valor Mortis, a first-person indie soulslike is worth a look too. Between the new regions, the dungeons and the points of interest added throughout development, there’s always another enemy, reward or local story waiting to be found.
Enshrouded sits at the top of the survival pile right now
All told, I consider Enshrouded one of the best survival and building games around at the moment. Its creative freedom, its exploration and the way its systems fit together easily make up for the clumsier parts of its interface and combat. Version 1.0 makes the whole experience feel complete while keeping the survival and building foundations that made it such a hit in early access. Players clearly agree: the user reviews on its Steam page are rated “Very Positive”, with 92,364 favourable reviews out of 107,517 as of 16 October 2026, and it’s currently £31.49 there, down from £34.99 with a 10% launch discount. If you were waiting for the finished version before jumping in, it’s here, and it’s worth every hour you’re about to sink into it.
| What we like | What we like a lot less |
|---|---|
| A dense world, full of dungeons, quests and places to search | A placement preview that hides the blocks’ connection points |
| Exploration that feeds straight into your progression | Stiff combat animations early on |
| Craftspeople to recruit who unlock new recipes | Clunky target switching |
| Remarkably free building, right down to the terrain and cellars | A Sparkworks system that’s barely explained |
| Ruins you can take over so you never build from scratch | A fairly thin main story |
| Cooking with bonuses that genuinely matter | |
| A Shroud that keeps the pressure on every trip | |
| Bosses that demand patience and stamina management | |
| Gorgeous landscapes, from bright sunshine to Shroud-filled caves | |
| A glider and fast travel that make getting around easy | |
| Stable on PS5 | |
| What might make you buy itA huge world where exploring, building and surviving constantly feed each other | What might put you offBuilding that can be awkward to aim and early fights that feel a bit stiff |
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